Knock on wood AN ELECTRONIC woodpecker that can identify trees with hidden rot could save healthy trees from being damaged or felled. Foresters looking for rot normally have to drill a hole in the trunk and take a core sample. This damages the tree, so Geoff Lawday of Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College near London wanted to find a … News
Here's the beef . . . SO it's true. Some of us are eating cows infected with mad cow disease, despite all the government assurances that meat is safe. Switzerland, one of the more honest countries in Europe in terms of BSE, has been testing apparently healthy cows for the rogue prion that causes the disease, with a test fast enough … Opinion
Afloat in an alien sky BEFORE they had rockets to fire their imaginations, science fiction writers were devoted to the balloon. It was a sort of proto-spacecraft, a piece of technology that represented humankind's transcendence over nature, that allowed new views of the world and promised travel to the most unlikely places. Unfortunately, balloons' practical limitations—they really do need atmospheres—have … Features
Ethical dilemmas ALL progress in science and technology has an impact on people's lives. Often these effects are positive-antibiotics, computers and electricity have made our lives safer, easier and more comfortable. But inventions can bring suffering and injustice, such as nuclear war, pollution and road accidents. How do we decide what is the right and wrong use … Inside Science
Feedback THE PRIZES that Feedback and the scientific establishment await each year with awe were handed out last week at Harvard University—the Ig Nobel Prizes, which reward dubious achievements that "cannot or should not be reproduced" in fields from peace to safety engineering. This year's festivities, sponsored by Annals of Improbable Research, highlighted the changing nature … Regulars